Mehanna sentenced to 17-1/2 years

A defiant and angry Tarek Mehanna was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to 17-1/2 years in prison on charges of terrorism and lying to federal investigators.

The former teacher at Alhuda Academy in Worcester was convicted after an eight-week jury trial of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq and to providing material support to al Qaida and making false statements to officials investigating terrorism. The sentence was less than the 25 years the Justice Department recommended and far less than the life sentence that advisory sentencing guidelines called for, but more than the 6-1/2 years defense lawyer J.W. Carney asked for.

Mr. Carney said he plans an appeal on numerous grounds, starting with allowing hundreds of text messages, photos and other mentions of 9-11 that the prosecution said that Mr. Mehanna reveled in.

If Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. had any doubts about prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty’s contention that Mr. Mehanna, 29, is not repentant of his crimes, Mr. Mehanna put those to rest. Mr. Mehanna spoke to the judge for 20 minutes, comparing himself to Nelson Mandela, who was seen as a hero — and elected president of South Africa — after he was released from prison on charges of fighting an oppressive regime.

In fact, she said, evidence showed he revered Osama bin Laden and viewed him as a hero and his virtual father.

Asked what he thought of Mr. Mehanna’s disparaging of U.S. history and refusal to apologize before the judge sentenced his client, Mr. Carney said Mr. Mehanna demonstrated that the trial was not criminal but political.

There were moments of drama during the sentencing hearing. After Mr. Mehanna said the government had sent an undercover agent to prod him into participating in a terror plot — that he refused — Mr. Chakravarty rose to call that “categorically false.” Mr. Mehanna yelled to him that “you’re a liar.”

Two U.S. marshals strode to Mr. Mehanna seated at the defense table in an orange prison jump suit , put a hand on him and spoke to him, but Judge O’Toole did not allow Mr. Chakravarty to continue.

After declaring a break in the hearing, Judge O’Toole said, “I am frankly concerned by the defendant’s lack of remorse.” His position has “a quality of defiance.”

The judge said Mr. Mehanna’s sentence reflects that his “trip to Yemen proved a feckless attempt, though no less serious an attempt for its failure.” Mr. Mehanna was convicted of going to Yemen to be trained in jihad to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq despite his contention that he had gone for religious and language training.

The judge called him “a charismatic leader, as we saw this morning” a strong and magnetic personality of intelligence and religious knowledge.” The judge said the jury rejected the argument that Mr. Mehanna’s translation of al-Qaida material promoting jihad is protected speech.

The judge noted numerous letters of support from doctors and others inside and outside the Muslim community praising Mr. Mehanna as a kind and gentle man. Judge O’Toole said he often sees that at sentencing

“I might call it the Jekyll and Hyde phenomenon. We all have capacity to do good and evil in varying proportions,” he said.

Judge O’Toole sentenced Mr. Mehanna to even less than the U.S. Attorney recommended, saying he thinks the sentencing guidelines are flawed. In terrorism cases, the guidelines treat even someone like Mr. Mehanna, who had no criminal history, as a serious criminal.

Nevertheless, he said he sees the need to protect society and punish the defendant. Mr. Chakravarty said recidivism is more likely in someone such as Mr. Mehanna who does not think he did anything wrong. In the small number of terrorism cases with charges similar to Mr. Mehanna’s, the judge frequently sentences below the guideline range, Judge O’Toole said.

Mr. Carney said that his client was being punished for statements he made and for refusing to be an informant against Muslims. Mr. Mehanna had been under intense surveillance for six years and the government did not seek his detention even after his first arrest for lying to the FBI, indicating that even the government knew that he was not a danger.

Mr. Chakravarty responded at a press conference, saying Mr. Mehanna had been “connected to a web around the world.” Investigators had to “be mindful of what is in the interest of other investigations on when to take certain actions.”

Ahmed S. Mehanna of Sudbury said outside the courthouse that he supports his son’s innocence, asking what action he had actually taken. He said the media had been responsible for an atmosphere in which the jury convicted him.

Mr. Mehanna said he regrets now that he left his native Egypt to come to a country that he thought believed in freedom of speech. He decried the refusal of the judge to allow a juror who wanted to address the court. Mr. Carney said the juror approached the defense team that day, saying that she was bothered by the result of the verdict and thinking Mr. Mehanna should not spend any more time in jail.

In the defendant’s speech to the judge, he recounted a long history of what he said was America’s ill treatment of minorities. He said that he was acting against an oppressive regime just as the Minutemen in Lexington and Concord had participated in an American “jihad.”

He also spoke of the United States’ war against Iraq and the suffering, including the deaths of 500,000 children caused by American-led sanctions against the country and mistreatment, to include rape and murder, against its civilians, and how angry it made him.

“I watched on September 11 as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children,” Mr. Mehanna said.

Special Agent in Charge Richard Deslauriers said in a press conference, the FBI and its partners “will remain vigilant. It will continue to pursue those individuals who advocate violent extremism and promote the radicalization of others.”

Numerous supporters who were able to fit into the courtroom stood and applauded Mr. Mehanna as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.